My Phone in the Waters of Maui

On our last day in Maui, I wanted to take my girlfriend snorkeling at Honolua Bay, where I had gone four years prior and seen tons of fish, turtles, and colorful coral.

We had actually wanted to go earlier in the trip, but the waves were too strong and made for unsafe snorkeling. Somewhat miraculously, the strong currents subsided overnight, and that morning’s snorkel report said we were good to go!

We got to Honolua Bay around 9am and sure enough, the waves were pretty calm. I put my phone into a waterproof case and lanyard and we waded in. Shortly after we started swimming out into the water (it couldn’t have been more than 20-25 feet from the shore), I thought I felt a slight weight lessen around my neck. When I reached for my phone, it was gone. The lanyard section that connected to my phone had ripped.

This was my worst nightmare. We frantically searched the area as I tried to retrace my steps, but the area that I thought the phone had fallen was really murky and rocky, with no visibility since a lot of sand and dirt was getting kicked up by the surf.

After combing the area with our feet many times and even diving down to try to see it, I called off the search. It was extremely difficult to see anything and it was becoming fruitless. The mood was a little grim, but I thought we should at least snorkel the cove and do what we were excited to do in the first place since we were already there.

We ended up snorkeling for a while and saw lots of colorful fish and coral, and even a couple sea turtles. I actually swam right above one when I did one final loop looking for my phone.

As we finished, we were rushing against the clock to meet the check out time at our hotel and had pretty much resigned to the phone being gone. I tried utilizing the “find my phone” feature but my phone’s location was off so I just left a lock screen message asking to email or call if someone found the phone. The best bet was to just wait for it to wash ashore (slim chance?) or say RIP and get a new phone.

So we left for our hotel, checked out, and got acai bowls and pie at a few locations nearby. We kept thinking about my phone and started coming up with plans to get a new one. It sucked, but it wasn’t the end of the world.

Just as my girlfriend started the car to head to the airport, she got a call on her phone. She was actually almost about to reject the call because of spammers, but looked to make sure.

The caller ID? “Stanley Quan”!!! We freaked out, picked up the call, and a woman on the other end said that they found a phone washed ashore at Honolua Bay and saw this number listed. We quickly changed our Google Maps destination and zoomed back over to the cove.

When we got back to Honolua Bay, all the snorkelers still around had heard about my phone haha. We found the person who found the phone and gave her a pie as a thank you.

I got my phone back! I couldn’t believe it. It was low on battery, but intact and fully functional. My phone didn’t even have any dents or scratches. The waterproof case actually did it’s job, except for the staying attached to me part.

When I looked through my phone again, I saw that it had actually taken several videos on its own while in the water! I had video of about an hour and a half of swirling water and sand – I think my phone was mostly getting tossed back and forth by waves the whole time.. This was the six-second video timestamped at 9:28am, showing a quick peak of the cliff above water and probably when my phone became unattached:

All in all, we had an adventurous day complete with the lowest of lows and highest of highs. It was a relief to get my phone back and leave Maui with all of my belongings plus a crazy story.

Praise be to baby Moana and the Hawaiian Gods. My phone swam with the fishies for six hours, but you brought it back to me when it was time. Mahalo and Aloha! Hang loose.